


The Pain's Still There

by swordmemorykey



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, but then the boys comfort him and its good times, reggie gets yelled at by a stranger and it reminds him of his parents, slight angst just for reggie's thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:40:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27471379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swordmemorykey/pseuds/swordmemorykey
Summary: Reggie should have known better than to expect a night out to go well. Like his dad always says, he can never do anything right.(Reggie angst followed by comfort from the boys)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 119





	The Pain's Still There

"Boys, we killed it up there!" Luke exclaims, energy high from just coming off stage. It's hard to hear him over the bustle of the seedy bar they are in. Bobby's cousin had to pull a lot of strings for them to be able to play here and though it isn't great, a gig is still a gig. The boys were elated from the thrill of playing, even if it was just for a bunch of drunk people. Reggie idly wonders if his dad has ever come here before quickly ridding himself of the thought.

Alex eagerly nods his head in agreement with Luke. "Especially Reg. You nailed Crooked Teeth!"

"Dude, what about you? When you did that thing-" Reggie flails his arms around, trying to mimic Alex playing the drums. Alex smiles as Luke joins in, adding sound to Reggie's antics.

Suddenly, a loud voice comes from behind where Reggie is sitting. "HEY!"

All of the joy from seconds before vanishes as Reggie immediately stiffens and turns around as slow as possible. He knows from past experience that it's better not to make any sudden movements when someone is yelling like that.

"Yes?" He asks timidly, one hand already gripping the sleeve of his flannel tight for comfort.

The man in front of him looks like he kicks puppies for fun. He's built like a truck, flashy clothing and bulging muscles definitely overcompensating for something. When he speaks, he sounds like the type of guy that's always ready to pick a fight over the smallest things. Everything about the guy reminded Reggie too much of his dad for comfort. "You made me spill my fucking beer with all your dumbass flailing."

"I'm sorry," Reggie breathes out fast, wanting the conversation to be done and hoping that if he goes along quickly maybe it will end sooner.

The man gets impossibly closer to him, practically breathing down his neck. "Sorry? You should be fucking sorry, you worthless piece of shit. Who invited you here anyway? Isn't it past your bedtime, little boy?"

Reggie leans away as far as he possibly can from the man and his alcohol-ridden breath. He has to get out of there; he knows what will come next if he doesn't.

The man snarls. "What, forgot how to speak?"

Reggie doesn't respond. His mouth refuses to open and he's scared that even if it did, all that would come out would be a whimper.

"What are you, fucking re-"

Luke jumps up and cuts the guy off mid-sentence, anger written all over his face. "Hey, that's enough. He said he's sorry."

The man doesn't let up but redirects his attention so it's aimed at the now standing Luke. "He needs to pay."

"Here, take the stupid money," Alex says as he rips a few bucks from his wallet and throws them on the table.

With the mans attention off of him, Reggie sees his moment and ducks out from where the man is leaning practically over him and books it out of the bar. He doesn't know where he's going or what he'll do once he gets there, all he knows is that he needs to get far away from there immediately. 

No matter how fast he runs, the words still echo in his head. Dumbass, worthless, piece of shit, and the word his dad would always call him when he came home with a bad test score or when Reggie didn't understand what he was saying beneath his slurred speech. The words morph and twist in his head, memories popping up and then retreating, making way for new ones, tone shifting and changing between the voices of both his parents. At some point, the memories flesh out further to include more words. Useless, good for nothing, disgrace. A mistake.

He can't outrun the thoughts whirling in his head but he tries. He passes couples, corner stores, drunk friend groups, darts through alleys, all in no discernable direction. The world blurs as his eyes fill with tears and his mind screams at him that maybe if he weren't here his parents would be happy. Maybe his dad wouldn't have to be drunk every moment of the day just to deal with such a let down of a son. Maybe his mom wouldn't look at him like he was the worst thing that ever happened to her as she cleaned the bruises ringing his body. Maybe they would both be happy.

He doesn't know how long he's been running for but at some point his feet had taken over for his brain and brought him to the one place he really wanted to be. Reggie opens the garage doors and enters the bands studio, immediately running up to the corner of the loft where they keep spare blankets and making himself as small as possible as he cries into his knees, still unable to keep his thoughts at bay. Why does he have to be such a disappointment that his own parents don't want him? Why can't he ever just do anything right? He can't even have a good time without somehow messing it up.

It could be hours or just minutes that he spends crying to himself before he hears the sound of people entering the studio. He quiets his sobs, knowing exactly how to do so quickly from years of experience.

A minute passes, the sound of feet shuffling and hushed voices below him, before Reggie hears Alex's soft "hey, Reg," come from the top of the stairs. 

Reggie quickly wipes his face with the sleeve of his flannel and plasters on the biggest fake smile he can manage. "Hey, Lex."

"Do you want to come sit on the couch with me and Luke?" Alex asks, tentatively holding out his hand. Reggie grabs it immediately as if it were a lifeline and lets himself be led down the stairs and over to the couch where Luke is already sitting, arms spread wide in an open invitation. Reggie collapses fully on top of him and buries his face in Luke's neck. He feels Alex sit down next to them followed by the feeling of an arm wrapping around his back and a small kiss to the top of his head. Luke is softly murmuring reassurances in Reggie's ear and that's when he breaks. 

It's silent other than the sound of Reggie's tears and the softly whispered words of support from Luke and Alex enveloping him. Reggie has never felt so safe in his life. When he gets like this, he usually starts to think the worst, making himself believe that his friends don't care about him as much as he cares about them. Being proven so wrong is a relief and simultaneously too much to handle. People do care about him, enough to stop their night out short to make sure he's okay. He curls into Luke further and moves one of his hands to bunch in Alex's shirt to make sure he's grounded to them both. Time slips away and at some point, the sobs die down and he drifts slowly into sleep.

\--------

When Reggie wakes up in the morning, he realizes that none of them had shifted through the night; Reggie was still being held in Luke's lap with Alex draped over the both of them. The other two boys are still sound asleep. Reggie can't help but smile at his best friends. Alex has his head laid where he could rest it on both Reggie and Luke at the same time while Luke's head is thrown back, mouth open in a totally unattractive way Reggie wishes he could take a picture of to lord over him forever. 

"He could be a water fountain, the way he's drooling," Alex snarks, snapping Reggie out of his thoughts. 

Reggie lets out a little chuckle that soon turns into full on laughter, Alex quickly following suit. It's not even one of Alex's better jabs but something about the whole situation coupled with the comment makes Reggie lose it.

They're brought out of their laughing fit when Luke groans and finally lets go of Reggie to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Morning, Luke," Reggie gets out through giggles. 

Luke just groans again as he wraps his arms back around Reggie and buries his head in Reggie's chest. "Jus' five more minutes."

"Aw, does Lukey-poo need his beauty sleep?"

Luke's voice is muffled by Reggie's shirt but his "shut up, Alex" is still heard perfectly by both boys, sending them back into a fit. Luke joins in on the laughter soon after, all thoughts of sleep gone from his mind.

When they calm down, Luke looks straight at Reggie. "You alright?"

Reggie has to think about it for a moment. Is he really ok? At the moment, laughing with his best friends, he is. But that doesn't change all the pain his parents have caused him, continue to cause him, or what happened with that guy last night. Getting better takes time, and it won't always be constant. Rough days are impossible to avoid.

But he thinks that, maybe, if he can just remember that his friends always have his back, he'll be alright. At least somewhat.

He smiles. "Yeah, I am."

**Author's Note:**

> if you're the anon who asked for this on tumblr here it is! sorry it's so late.


End file.
